Boycott

Cummins, along with other large employers in Indiana, sent a letter to GOP leaders:

Nine of Indiana’s largest employers sent a letter to state GOP leaders Monday asking for immediate action on the controversial religious freedom law. The letter says the companies are “deeply concerned” about the impact the law is having on their employees and the reputation of the state.

Here in California (and probably elsewhere), transit agencies do a sizable business with Cummins. AC Transit, for example, uses Cummins engines in almost every one of its buses. It is not hard to imagine that transit districts will look at a Boycott Indiana policy in its purchasing contracts. Large transit agencies do bus fleet purchases every few years — and Cummins does have competitors that aren’t located in states with Sharia law.

In case there was any doubt about the intent of the Religious Freedom Law.

Read Full Post »

Caltrans Wins Court Battle Over Highway 1 Widening

As one of the most scenic places on Earth, the California coast is not the place to be constructing expressways. The fact that CEQA allows this is a huge problem:

San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Marie Weiner tentatively denied the claims in the CEQA lawsuit brought by Pacificans for a Scenic Coast about the proposed widening of Highway 1. The Calera Creek Parkway project seeks to widen Highway 1 from Fairway Park to Rockaway by adding an additional traffic lane, a shoulder and a bike lane on each side.

The CEQA lawsuit contends the Calera Creek Parkway project was not adequately described at the time of the EIR, that the project is out of scale with Pacifica’s scenic nature, the EIR contains contradictory information on impacts of threatened species, and that the EIR did not adequately address adverse impacts of the project, according to Pacificans for a Scenic Coast.

The topics explored during the two-day hearing included concerns about noise, water run-off, species protection, traffic and pedestrian safety, greenhouse gas emissions and what the new road will look like in the neighborhood.

The “bike lane” in this case just means cyclists get to ride on the shoulder of an expressway. The new Devil’s Slide Class I path opened just down the road, but who wants to ride on an expressway to get there?

Before and after photosimulation

Read Full Post »

Behold! The Ultimate Highway Widening

Behold, the “ultimate” highway widening. Seriously, that is actually the word Florida DOT officials used to describe it, and they may not be exaggerating:

This highway engineering nightmare is the new-and-improved I4. It is where the Obama Administration once tried to build a new high-speed rail line. Governor Scott killed the train idea, because he said it would cost Florida taxpayers too much (even though it was fully funded by the Feds).

The I4 widening will cost a whopping $2.1 billion for just 21 miles. And whereas Florida taxpayers would not have had to pay anything for the train, they will pay at least half the cost of the highway project. The rest of the funding is supposed to come from a PPP tolls. And given the dismal record of PPP-funded highways, taxpayers should expect to pay even more.

A giant highway overcrossing is a great place for a street fair!

Read Full Post »

Arnold Schwarzenegger stopped for riding a bike without a helmet

The idiotic Australian helmet law strikes again:

Melbourne police officers succeeded where scores of action movie villains have failed when they stopped Hollywood tough guy Arnold Schwarzenegger in his tracks on Monday.

The intervention began after photographs began circulating on social media of the American actor, bodybuilder and politician riding one of Melbourne’s blue share bikes. The Terminator and Predator star was wearing bike-matching blue shorts, but not a bicycle helmet.

“I saw a group of cyclists riding ahead of me and we just went up to do a routine intercept,” Senior Constable Gillson told Fairfax Media on Tuesday.

“Then we noticed that Arnold Schwarzenegger was in the crowd. “We spoke to him briefly and had a little chat with him about the reason why I pulled him over.”

The constable said he often chose to educate tourists from countries without helmet laws rather than fine them.

Someone needs educating, and it isn’t the tourists.

Read Full Post »

Who Will Be The First Apple Watch Fatality?

If you thought Smart-Phones were bad for driver distraction, the Apple Smart-Watch could be even worse:

The Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) in Wokingham, Berks showed that a driver reading a message on an Apple Watch would take 2.52 seconds to react to an emergency manoeuvre, whereas a driver talking to another passenger would react in 0.9 seconds. Reading on an Apple Watch was even found to be more distracting than using a handheld mobile

The problem with watches is the smaller screen. And it is right there on the wrist always in full view, providing a constant distraction. Automakers, however, see this as yet another marketing opportunity. BMW has reportedly developed apps to link the Apple Watch to the driver console.

Read Full Post »

Univ. of California investment in fossil fuels isn’t just bad for the environment

Last year, a student group made a pitch to the Regents to divest the University of its financial holdings in the fossil fuel industry. The students were motivated by environmental considerations — though with solar/wind reaching a tipping point their advice made financial sense too. The Regents formed a task force to study the matter, and at a September 2014 meeting decided against selling off its investments:

In presenting the task force’s recommendations, UC Regents’ Chief Investment Officer Jagdeep Singh Bachher said that selling off all fossil fuel holdings would amount to $10 billion of the $91 billion total in the UC portfolio. Selling off holdings in “the carbon underground 200,” a privately-created index of the largest emitters of coal, oil and gas, would require UC to sell off $3 billion in its investments. Coal alone is half a billion dollars, he said.

“It is clear to me and from the homework that I’ve done that these actions will have financial consequences on all of us and on our portfolios,” Bachher said, later adding, “There are financial consequences every time we respond to an unfavorable industry or moral cause of the day.“

Too bad Baccher didn’t listen to those dirty hippies. Just days after deciding not to sell, the industry suffered one of its worst crashes ever. I would say the timing is fucking hilarious, except that it will be students and staff that will pay for Baccher’s bad financial advice.

Read Full Post »

Jim Hartnett

The Caltrain Board Member who wanted to ban bikes entirely from trains and presided over the Board during its most dysfunctional years is now Caltrain’s new General Manager.

Oh, my.

Read Full Post »

BART’s Solution to Auto Theft

A new police watchtower looms over the North Berkeley BART parking lot:

If BART is that worried about auto burglaries, then perhaps they should eliminate the parking lot altogether and put desperately-needed housing there instead.

Read Full Post »

This Is Not A Cycle Track

Here is a “cycle track” that was just installed in Alameda, along Shoreline Dr:

And here is a cross-section diagram of the “cycle track” (click to enlarge):

Can you spot what’s wrong? The answer, of course, is that there is nothing protecting the cyclists from the cars. A cycle track should have physical separation between car and bike traffic (preferably with a concrete curb). Alameda is only installing paint and stanchions. The other option for protecting cyclists is to put the cycle-track behind parked cars — but that was only been done in a few places during daytime hours. Alameda put most parking on the wrong side of the street.

For comparison, here is how a cycle track is supposed to look:

Amsterdam cycle track

Alameda is hardly an isolated case. Here is what they are calling a “cycle track” in Minneapolis:

There is no reason cyclists should have to put up with this substandard infrastructure.

Read Full Post »

Camden Expands Its Parking Crater

The Camden, NJ has a huge parking crater extending from the waterfront to downtown. Now the city’s Parking Authority wants to hollow out downtown even more:

When the Parking Authority of the City of Camden decided it wanted to tear down the decades-old Commerce Building in the heart of downtown to put up a parking garage, it made an offer far below the property owner’s expectations.

The Estate of Milton Rubin, a real estate investor in the city, had been paying property taxes on an assessment of $1.66 million, and in 2007 had prepared to sell it for $4.5 million.

The Parking Authority’s offer came in considerably lower.

In a letter in June, the agency raised the specter of eminent domain as it offered minus $200,000 – essentially asking the estate to part with the building and pay on top of it.

“There’s just a level of some inexplicable absurdity here,” Robert S. Baranowski, attorney for the estate, said last week. “I’d love to go around taking people’s property and telling them they have to pay me to do it.”

“Absurd” doesn’t even begin to describe it. The property sits one block from a PATCO subway station, and is across the street from the Walter Rand Transportation Center (an intermodal station with rail and bus service). It is the last place where a city should be replacing buildings with parking.

Read Full Post »